March 2006

Ajilon Consulting launches specialist onshore SAP services division, March 2006

Specialist consultancy launched to solve the problems and uncertainty of traditional ERP off-shoring

Ajilon Consulting, the IT consultancy arm of Ajilon, the global leader in consulting, managed services and speciality staffing, has officially launched its SAP Services Division. The new division is designed to fill the current gap in the market for high-quality, on-site, UK-based SAP expertise to help businesses to maximise their return on its IT investments.

Faced with inflationary pressures, increased regulation and global competition, many companies of all sizes are looking for ways to generate the most value from their IT investments. Off shore outsourcing is often a route undertaken to deliver this required return on investment (ROI), however, companies embarking upon this have often found themselves facing increasingly unacceptable levels of uncertainty.

Continuity and cost are the primary concerns at the route of this uncertainty. With traditional off-shoring from many major systems integrators, clients often find themselves seeing a significant proportion of support being provided from lower cost centres, resulting in cheap but poor service. Such projects are also often plagued by high staff attrition levels causing long-term projects to be passed from one consultant to another, resulting in serious repercussions on quality of service and cost.

The team was formed to combat these problems by offering a dedicated service, staffed by highly experienced, UK-based consultants and support staff. It's comprehensive range of services helps businesses make the most of its ERP investment, from support, maintenance and hosting to full-managed service options and consultancy.

Paul Solomon, chief executive, stated, "Due to the central importance SAP has to the ongoing functioning of the business, SAP consultancy and support services requires a level of customer intimacy above and beyond other IT and business projects. By being on-site with our customers, we become an extension of their businesses and are best placed to solve the many complex issues they may face."

Solomon continued, "The risk associated with traditional off-shore SAP outsourcing can often erode much of the cost benefits of using it in the first place. Our UK-based shared services, staffed with highly skilled consultants can help businesses protect and maximise their investment, providing consistency, continuity and quality all at the right price."

The new SAP Services team is already quickly proving its worth. The newly created division has already won the coveted Annual Global Touchpaper award for 'Achieving ITIL Best Practice' as well as being nominated for 'Best use of Touchpaper'. This early recognition signifies that what we provide is truly focussed on the delivery of best practice IT services for business applications.

The launch is also good news for the UK SAP skills market. Too often large numbers of the most experienced UK SAP staff are providing the lowest levels of support. Consequently, skills are not being developed at the same rate as they the solutions they support, leading to a spiralling skills shortage in these key areas. With our expertise companies will be able to regain control and visibility of complex SAP implementations and enhance, and in some bases rebuild, their internal competencies and skill sets.

Solomon offers the following advice for any businesses looking to outsource its SAP needs, "Businesses must look for a service provider that recognises the challenges within the complex and competitive SAP market and provides a team of highly skilled SAP support staff as well as high-end consultants. Any provider worth the business will offer the full range of services from consultancy to fixed priced managed services and have these capabilities across Europe."